Friday, February 12, 2016

New Belgium Releasing 2016 La Folie and Transatlantique Kriek

Courtesy of New Belgium Brewing Co

New Belgium’s 2016 La Folie and Transatlantique Kriek
are Ready for Enjoyment

Ft. Collins, Colo., – February 11, 2015 –
New Belgium Brewing has been making sour beers for nearly twenty years,
launching its wood beer program in 1997 with La Folie. The
award-winning sour brown continues to serve as one of the brewery’s most
beloved sours and the 2016 version is now available. Every year, Eric
Salazar, New Belgium’s Wood Cellar Manager, and Lauren Salazar, New
Belgium’s Sour Beer Blender, coordinate a blending of various foeders
(oak barrels) to make La Folie a beautiful example of a
Flanders-inspired sour brown ale.

“We taste barrels every three months and then blend different foeders
with different flavor profiles and ages to make a special blend that we
call La Folie,” said Lauren Salazar. “It’s hard to believe we’ve been
experimenting with sours for almost two decades, but I love every
moment. It is definitely a mix of art and science, with so many
different combinations.”

Courtesy of New Belgium Brewing Co

La Folie, French for “the folly”, ages one to three years in French oak
foeders formerly used in wine production. The result? A smooth-drinking
brown ale with a delightfully tart finish. This one-of-a-kind beer is
sharp like a lambic, sour in the finish, and full of green apple,
cherry, and plum-skin notes. It pours a deep mahogany.

La Folie is 7 percent ABV and is available in both 22-oz. bombers and on draft.

Courtesy of New Belgium Brewing Co

Transatlantique Kriek
Transatlantique Kriek offers another dose of sour that’s crisp and
effervescent with a bright flash of cherry. The 2016 edition of
Transatlantique Kriek began life in the oaken vessels of Gert
Christiaens’ Oud Beersel brewery, a 130-year-old Belgian lambic brewery.
After it wood aged, Oud Beersel’s lambic was blended with tart cherries
and shipped across the Atlantic to New Belgium Brewmaster, Peter
Bouckaert. Bouckaert then used the cherry lambic ale along with a
portion of New Belgium’s sour Felix to create a full golden brew. The
result is an intense cherry nose leading to a pleasing sweet-tart
finish.

Transatlantique Kriek is 8 percent ABV and is available in 22-oz. bombers and on draft.

To geek out even more on sours, here are some links for enjoyment and learnings:

About New Belgium Brewing
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of
Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best
Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small
Businesses. The 100% employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle
Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists,
and one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B
Corp. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews thirteen year-round
beers; Citradelic Tangerine IPA, Ranger IPA, Rampant Imperial IPA, Shift
Pale Lager, Slow Ride Session IPA, Snapshot Wheat, Sunshine Wheat, 1554
Black Ale, Blue Paddle Pilsner, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel and a
gluten-reduced line, Glutiny Pale Ale and Glutiny Golden Ale. Learn more
at www.newbelgium.com.